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Dear George,

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005, George Huxtable wrote:

> I presume this was William Simms,
> a partner in the famous firm of Troughtom
> and Simms.

Maybe; he always uses
Troughton's instruments for his illustrations.
His name on the title page is
"Frederick W. Simms,"
Surveyor and Civil Engineer,
Late of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and formerly employed
on the Ordnance Survey.


> found Simms' "The Sextant", written a few years later.
> This is a VERY mathematical treatment, and rather hard going,
> but very
> thorough. It may appeal to Alex.

How many pages?

> Alex kindly offers to make available a scan or copy of the
> pages relevant
> to the dipmeter, and if he finds that possible,
> it would be most welcome.

I'll try on Monday. There are only 4 pages on Dipmeter,
and 4 on the reflecting circle.

> That appears to argue against my statement above,
> that the Troughton
> circles was not, in general, a repeating device.
> Perhaps some were, then.

The one he describes is certainly not repeating.
Unfortunately the picture of the reflecting circle
is not very good (unlike that of the dipmeter).
Furthermore, the description of its use is just a citation
from Troughton's paper
"Directions for observing with Troughton's reflecting circle",
from which I conclude that Simms was not considering himself
an expert in reflecting circles.


> Alex remarks on the quality of Mendoza's
> engravings as being "better than
> photos", and I must agree. Really beautifully
> and accurately done, to my
> mind those engravings are works of art in themselves.

Almost every new development of technology leads to a loss
of something... sometimes very nice and beautiful.
In my childhood I saw many engraved reproductions of paintings
from XIX century art albums.
No comparison with the modern photo reproduction
techniques!

Or look at the modern ferry ships and compare them with 1950-s
liners:-(

Alex.

   

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